A review by debs4jc
Ross Poldark by Winston Graham

5.0

I love historical fiction. I also apparently have a weakness for soap opera type stories. This book combines both brilliantly. On the historical side I got many glimpses into the lives of people living in Cornwall, England during the late 1700s. It's not always pretty - children are abused, woman are harassed, miners die early deaths due to horrible working conditions and gentleman engage in bloody cockfights. On the soap opera side you have our main character - Ross Poldark - who returns home from fighting in America (our revolutionary war). His first night home he visits the home of his cousin Francis to find that his entire extended family is gathered there for a celebratory dinner. His lady love, Elizabeth, is there as well and then he finds out that the dinner is to celebrate her engagement to his cousin! Shocked and betrayed he returns to his family estate, only to find it in shambles after the death of his father. Ross is not one to lie low and lick his wound however, he gets to work fixing up his estate, schemes to open a copper mining venture, and rescues a young lady (a 11-12 year old girl) from an abusive father and sets her up as a housemaid. There are many juicy side stories alongside the main thread of Ross's strained relationship with his family members and his efforts to get over his love for Elizabeth. Ross lives by his own moral code - one that does not see upper class people as better than lower class people. This puts him at odds with many of the members of "his class". And he is not without his own moral flaws. But on the whole this rambling story is full of great drama, and the descriptions of the countryside and way of life at that time are top notch.
Also I listened to the audiobook version, and that added another layer of delight, as Oliver Hembrough does an excellent job with the Cornish dialect and the narration in general. Indeed, I would say it's one of the best audiobooks I've ever listened too.